Chapter Text
Hongjoong kicked off his shoes by the door and carefully hung his jacket and mask up. He had stayed late at the company to finish some work with Eden and Maddox but had kept his promise to his Seonghwa-hyung to come home for group dinner at least a couple of times a week even if he chose to go back to the company afterwards. Wooyoung had decided to cook tonight instead of them ordering in (Hongjoong had been present for the argument between Wooyoung and Yeosang because Yeosang wanted chicken like always) and apparently Jongho had done enough aegyo and/or threatening of his hyungs that he was picking the movie. He started heading towards the kitchen where he could smell Wooyoung’s cooking but he ended up pausing at the entrance to the living room. While Hongjoong took the members to his room to scold them, Seonghwa resorted to other methods which probably explained the five members scattered throughout the room with their noses facing the wall.
Seonghwa had heard the front door and after confirming that Wooyoung didn’t need help, he went out to greet Hongjoong who had a confused look on his face as he stood at the entrance to the living room.
“Those three,” Seonghwa gestured to one side of the room where Yunho, Yeosang, and San were, “decided that the middle of the afternoon was really the best time to play strip Jenga in the living room.”
Hongjoong wasn’t sure whether or not that answered more questions than it raised but Seonghwa was already turning to point at Mingi and Jongho on the other side of the room.
“Those two on the other hand were playing soccer in the dorm yet again and almost hit the trio playing Jenga,” Seonghwa explained, clearly exasperated. Hongjoong could tell he wasn’t mad at any of the kids though, just annoyed, shown by his body language as well as the poorly hidden smiles from the other boys. Suddenly, Seonghwa’s phone alarm went off from inside his pocket, the alarm tone that they all knew meant they were released from whatever timeout or punishment the oldest had deemed appropriate.
Seonghwa had barely turned the alarm off on his phone before he was suddenly in the middle of a cuddle group with the five boys he had been punishing just a second before. Hongjoong even spotted Jongho tucked right into the oldest despite his normal aversion to skinship and cuddles.
The captain narrowed his eyes at the group, “Why don’t I ever get this amount of affection after I scold them?”
To be fair, he was tired and thus didn’t fully process what he said, and the implications thereof and so didn’t pay close enough attention to the smirk shared between San and Yeosang. The two detached from the group cuddle and launched themselves at the leader, almost knocking him over. A loud yell and footsteps were the only warning Hongjoong got before Wooyoung also joined them from the kitchen, his momentum finally knocking them to the floor.
This was apparently open invitation for Yunho, Mingi, and Jongho to top off the dog pile on the leader and suddenly he was very thankful for the fact that San and Yeosang seemed to be holding at least some of the weight off of him. Seonghwa rounded the group so that he was back into Hongjoong’s line of sight, chuckling and shaking his head is amusement.
“Hyung get them off me,” Hongjoong half-heartedly whined.
The oldest grinned, “Nope, you asked for this. Now I’m going to finish dinner and you’re going to get cuddled.”
Hongjoong continued to whine as Seonghwa walked away, laughing, and the puppy pile turned into a love on the leader and each other pile.